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I can see why this card is number 1 on Neoseeker. It is very impressive. I really like the QMSS - I can apply it to external sources, this means that my TV Tuner card plays back in 5.1 channel!! Even though the effect is "created" by the soundcard, it sounds so good, that I will never be able to listen to ordinary stereo ever again! I can even play pack old LP's in 5.1 channel... it totally brings them to life!

The Philips Acoustic Edge has excellent sound which is achieved due to QSounds excellent QMSS algorithim. This works verry well in music and games. QMSS works especially well with 4.1 or 5.1 speakers. The new 1.87 beta drivers work a treat too, and help to really improve things. The soundcard works well in Windows 2K and Windows XP too!

THE GOOD:Price tag the card carries for features it has is excellent. Smooth installation and special sound type for DVD.

(In XP you don’t need to conn the audio cables)

THE BAD:Dirvers in the box doesn't work properly with W2k/XP.

No informative doc on the PIN conn on the card like anlog/digital conn & setup.

IN XP the DVD & CD drive has “enable digital audio” option checked by default this renders the physical wire conn from the drive to the card useless, ie if you uncheck the option analog conn works but I couldn’t get digital cd conn working. No info is given if you want force the sound card to take digital audio via the drive

Makes 'crek....' noise in the backgroung while playing cd/mp from the shipped drivers on W2K/XP OS.

SUMMARY:I haven't tested it with W2K/XP drivers. I will test it soon hope it works properly.

THE GOOD:For Windoze - awesome sound. Great 5.1 DVD card. New drivers support XP. Can even be used as a "budget" pro-audio card to get your recording studio up and running.

THE BAD:No Linux.

SUMMARY:I have been using this card since Neoseeker ran it's first review. The sound is much better than my S'BlasterLive!Plat in the mid-range, and for DVD playback it's great. The I/O is a bit limited for pro-audio work, but the sound is useable. In Windoze. In Linux it's useless. Both ALSA and OSS say they would love to develop the drivers for it if Philips will only give them the information they need. I contacted Philips to see what the story was and got the polite form response we are so familiar with "We are watching the development of Linux and will release drivers when...." sound familiar? All the manufacturers need to do is release some tech specs to the Linux community and they don't have to do anything else, the community has developed almost every driver in use, but they won't do that...

THE BAD:THEY DIDN'T MENTION THAT IT ISN'T (YET) MULTI-PROCESSOR AWARE!!!!

SUMMARY:After many random bluescreens and scouring the planet for their pcsound tech support, I finally spoke to someone who said that they are aware of the problem and will be releasing MPA drivers at some point "but it isn't at the top of their list". I am waiting rather impatiently until I can put it back in my system......

SUMMARY:I've had 5 sound cards in last few years but this one is staying. I've run one Acoustic Edge under Win98 then 98SE since Jan.--zero problems. Just got another for a second system running XP--great so far.

I recommend this card because:1) All other 5.1 cards, even new Audigy only play MP3's and other music in stereo (same stereo sounds come from front and rear) but this babe converts the stereo to 5.1 different channels of sound--UNREAL!

2) Takes stereo games and video (even tv card output and movie files off internet) and adds realistic surround sound. (others just do same stereo in front and rear speakers)

3) Will do the same for any stereo sources you plug into Line In, Aux In, and S/PDIF In. (I've tried C...

SUMMARY:Simply a evolution of the ThunderBird Q3D (which is seen in cards such as the Aztech PCI368-DSP, Labway XWave Thunder3d, I/O Magic's MagicQuad V8 and Philips PSC702 and PSC704 soundcards), the ThunderBird Avenger DSP builds on the solid quality of the first ThunderBird Q3D. The chip has been siting around since 1999, untill Philips Semiconductors bought out VLSI Technologies. Philips have now brought the chip into life - just imagine what the reviews would have said if the Acoustic Edge was released in 1999!!

The EAX support is much better, and I would say that it is better than the Live. QMSS is great for CD's and DVD's.

Driver support has been very good so far, and technical support is reasonable too.

THE BAD:Not standard on every PC that shipsBest kept secret in sound cards

SUMMARY:After reading the reviews on Neoseeker I thought Philips must be buying reviewers off but hearing was believing. QMSS converts stereo MP3's and games to 5.1 but I am a movie nut so the real grabber was connecting to my stereo video sources and watching 5.1 TV on my big screen with 5.1 receiver. I also have an external CE DVD player connected but this sound card sounds better even with DVD's . . . how do ya figur that?

I paid $100 at Circuit City but I'd pay 5x that if I had too knowing what it can do.